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Hyper-learning blew up on social media ten years ago, and everyone wanted to know how to do it. The idea was simple: adopt some specialist techniques to your educational routine and master advanced mathematics, fifteen languages, and concert-standard piano.
The idea went on to spawn several best-selling books. But that, of course, wasn’t the end of the story. While the concepts were pretty straightforward to grasp, the vast majority of people didn’t end up becoming savants.
But was that because hyper-learning was wishful thinking? Or was it the usual story: people just didn’t want to go to the effort?
Likely, the answer is the latter. Hyper-learning is something that is real, but only for those who practice it.
It’s a similar story for diet and lifestyle. People actually have to do it to see benefits.
There’s no doubt that the hyper-learning concept has profound implications for human achievement. If people can tap into its power, they will likely see massive gains in their learning and ability to synthesize new knowledge.
But such efforts require deliberate practice. Learning advanced mathematics or Korean in a few months takes profound effort, more than most people are willing to give.
Deliberate practice means learning something in a goal-oriented fashion instead of passively. While the latter can work for some people, the former is usually far more structured and routine. This method allows learners to progress to the next step.
Furthermore, deliberate practice requires people to push themselves. Learning with this method should feel like a workout, not something leisurely.
“Many people get into the habit of relaxing into the learning process,” says Headway, an app-maker that summarizes important books. “But the key to success is for learners to go out of their way to make the process challenging. The more resistance they put in place, the more likely they are to make progress.”
But, of course, hyper-learning is about more than learning one subject in isolation after another. It also requires so-called “interleaving,” which means learning multiple concepts in parallel.
This approach is effective because it causes shifts in focus. Every time the unconscious is consolidating one piece of learning, the student is pursuing another.
For example, hyper-learners will often do three things at once: learn a language, learn a physical skill, and learn something practical, like marketing.
Combining these elements helps with overlapping learning. It doesn’t accelerate the progress of any specific subject, but it ensures that more overall can be learnt in a given period.
“Mindset is critical for getting this process right,” explains Headway. “People need to go into hyperlearning to make it work for them. They can’t hold back. Those who only dabble in the learning process often wind up feeling disappointed that they didn’t take things further.”
Because of the role of mindset, experts in the area of hyper-learning suggest people go into it with a specific set of beliefs. One of those is ignoring the temptation to see their personal capacity and learning efficacy as fixed. Even if they have a negative opinion of themselves from the past, that is something they need to let go.
By definition, hyper-learning can’t proceed if someone believes they’re not good enough or can’t do it. It also doesn’t work if they think their brain is full.
“Part of the process of learning a lot in a short space of time is changing your views about yourself,” says Headway. “Getting into the right headspace can make true learning more likely over time.”
Of course, just trying hard to learn a lot of information in a short space of time isn’t sufficient. Students must also commit to rest, similar to the gym.
Resting the brain matters because that is when it creates new connections and shifts them into more unconscious thought processes. This approach helps learning, like a new language, feel more automatic and less forced.
While learning this way is still challenging, hyper-learning focuses on “automating” cognition, allowing for true, brain-based learning. Spacing out repeated information over intervals can help drive more information into long-term memory, with numerous tools, flash cards and apps helping this process.
Another technique hyper-learners use is the so-called “active recall,” an approach supported by science. This method gets learners to test themselves actively by trying to remember what they just learned.
Even more interestingly, it encourages learners to pursue answers, even when they can’t think of them. The act of simply thinking about a problem can foster learning more than reading the answer from a textbook and going through the work.
“Mastering the active recall technique is one of the areas where many hyper-learners fall down. They make their study sessions too passive, preventing them from consigning information to memory,” Headway explains. “But when learners try as hard as they can to figure something out, eventually the answer arrives.”
Of course, hyper-learning isn’t just about trying really hard and doing active problem-solving. It also relies on creating the right mental models.
A mental model is a percept that the learner uses to understand their topic of interest. It is something they feed new information through as they research the material.
In hyper-learning experiments, such mental models are critical. Students need the right way of thinking about a subject to chart a path to success.
For this reason, it is critical for learners to circle back when they don’t understand something. Poring over these misunderstandings with a fine toothcomb often reveals a more incisive way to think about the topic at hand.
“A mental model can mean the difference between learning a language in a few weeks and for it to take years,” Headway explains. “Once it is in place, everything that follows becomes so much easier.”
Finally, learning by teaching is critical in the hyper-learning method. Learners who can learn something and share it with others are far more likely to retain it.
As such, people can learn faster if they commit to sharing their insights with others. The moment they have a responsibility, it changes the nature of learning entirely.
